Two Libraries One Voice

Friday, March 9, 2012

World Read Aloud Day 2012 - Part One

We celebrated World Read Aloud Day with sensational students, awesome authors, and excellent educators. We "traveled" to New York, Iowa, Massachusetts, Michigan, Illinois, Wisconsin, Pennsylvania, Connecticut, Ohio, and California. This global literacy celebration showed students the power of words and stories and brought to life this year's theme,"Change the World, Story by Story." Thank you to everyone who took part in this memorable day. We are lucky, lucky librarians.

John's library celebrated World Read Aloud Day with five authors. He's thankful they took time out of their busy schedules to celebrate the importance of reading aloud.

Sarah Albee chatted with a first-grade class about the time she sent Queen Elizabeth a drawing and received a royal response. Wow! She read excerpts from Elephants and Lions and talked a bit about the history of poop. Thanks, Sarah!

Jody Feldman answered fifth-graders' questions aboutThe Gollywhopper Games. She shared that she's always enjoyed creating puzzles and has fun working them into her books. She closed by reading an excerpt from The Seventh Level. Thanks, Jody!

C. Alexander London and his dog Skyped with a fifth-grade class. He shared the inspiration for We Are Not Eaten By Yaks, talked about the importance of reading and writing, and read from a book he wrote in 1988 (I think he was in first grade). Thanks, C. Alexander!

I love the book trailer for We Are Not Eaten By Yaks. It is an exciting adventure with tv-addicted twins, explorers, and humor.

C. Alexander London created this video to celebrate the book birthday of We Dine With Cannibals.

Linda Urban celebrated with an extra happy first-grade class. She reminisced about the time she and Kate Messner visited my library, read Mouse Was Mad, and asked a few kids to discuss their favorite books. She's one in a million.

Watch a clip from when Linda Urban visited with my third, fourth, and fifth graders.

Sharon Creech's blurb for Linda's A Crooked Kind of Perfect is perfect: "I love Zoe's parents and her friend Wheeler, but most especially I love Zoe. She's perfect, in the most deliciously crooked kind of way."

Olugbemisola connected with Shannon Miller's fifth graders and my second graders at the same time. She delivered energetic booktalks aboutBreadcrumbs,A Wrinkle in Time, and Dumpling Days. Students from both groups shared their favorite books. Thank you, Olugbemisola!

A Wrinkle in Time is one of Olugbemisola's all-time favorite novels.

"World Read Aloud Day is fantastic because I get to know you guys." - Olugbemisola